Once again, the nation has been thrown into a state of mourning; Ghanaians of all political persuasion and tribal and religious affiliations, are shedding tears over the unfortunate and unexplained deaths of twenty young men and women last week at the Kintampo Falls in the Brong Ahafo region. According to reports, they were killed by a falling tree while enjoying a swim.
As usual, our politicians were falling over themselves to comfort the families of the deceased. The President rightly extended his condolences, and so did his second in command, Dr. Bawumia, who in fact, was dispatched to Kintampo to console the grieving families on behalf of the government.
The vice president assured the families of a government sponsored investigation. Well, lets hope so. Investigation into the untimely demise of the youngsters who had a bright future ahead of them, would be the right step in the right direction.
Ghanaians, particularly the families of the lost students, demand that the investigation should be well resourced, thorough and not halfhearted; but above all, it should be devoid of political interference. There should be no cover up of any sort, which is to say that the activities of groups closely identified with the ruling party should be actively scrutinized
Until the investigations are concluded, and blame if any, assigned, it would be absurd to point fingers. No one knows for sure if the tragedy at Kintampo was due to the negligence of the Invisible Forces, a vigilante group closely affiliated with the NPP, or to mother nature taking it out on humans who were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Nonetheless, Ghanaians will be watching proceedings very closely. The government has to get to the bottom of this case, and fast.
Meanwhile, some dimwitted politicians have chosen to use the sad occasion to project their abject ignorance as Ghanaians grieve and mourn. One such politician is the vice chairman of the ruling NPP, the insufferable Mr. Obiri Buahene, who is on record as saying that his para-military gang, the Invisible Forces had every right to pry/seize the Kintampo Falls from its former administrators — NDC hangers-on —-after the 2016 elections.
He reportedly justified the action of the vigilante group on the grounds that he Buahene was dealt the same hand in 2009 when the NDC swept into power.
Is this guy serious?Here we are crying our eyes out over the sudden and untimely demise of twenty beautiful young people, and this man has the audacity to utter such awfully ugly statements?
Mr. Buahene is a danger to our democracy and an embarrassment to his party. He is clearly power drunk, and his utterances, since the NPP won power, have been anything but prudent. His statements have been provocative, divisive, and calculated to inflame passions.
This man sees everything through the prism of politics; for him political expediency trumps everything else, even the death of youngsters. Did he once think of the families who had lost loved ones?
Mr. Buahene comes across as an arrogant, self-conceited man, an individual who has no qualms about spitting on the graves of the sudden departed. By his ill-advised utterances, Mr. Buahene has shown gross disrespect to the families of the dead students. He owes them unqualified apology.